Tabbed browsing is pretty much the norm by now, with even someone like me (who disliked it vehemently for a long time) finally giving in and start using tabbed browsing (thanks to Chrome, by the way). Well, apparently, Mozilla thinks its time to move on. They believe tabbed browsing has become obsolete, and are asking users to come up with a better alternative.

Ok, when I said "proper way" I meant "my way", as I explained in the parent post.

It seemed to me that what you described in your first post was pretty much exactly what MDI offers. You haven't explained how "your way" actually differs from the Opera way. I'm curious to see how you'd improve it.

No matter what OS you run Opera on, the windows inside the MDI behave as if it was Windows.

I haven't used Opera for Mac OS X, but I was under the impression that it lacked MDI and just worked like other tabbed browsers?

Of course Opera for Linux keeps the Windows style MDI (more or less), it's not like there are standard Linux UI guidelines to comply with.

It seemed to me that what you described in your first post was pretty much exactly what MDI offers. You haven't explained how "your way" actually differs from the Opera way. I'm curious to see how you'd improve it.

Well, I talked about virtual desktops to arrange sets of web pages (wouldn't fit a browser but something like that, if you use virtual desktops you know what I mean) and an expose-like method to keep stuff easily at hand.

I haven't used Opera for Mac OS X, but I was under the impression that it lacked MDI and just worked like other tabbed browsers?

Neither have I, no idea about that.

Of course Opera for Linux keeps the Windows style MDI (more or less), it's not like there are standard Linux UI guidelines to comply with.

Not being able to roll up windows, drag and resize them from anywhere besides the title bar (thus not allowing to remove the window decoration and get some extra space), work with an active window without automatically getting it raised it to the top... basically everything that makes the Windows UI utterly clunky and awkward (IMO).

Well, I talked about virtual desktops to arrange sets of web pages (wouldn't fit a browser but something like that, if you use virtual desktops you know what I mean) and an expose-like method to keep stuff easily at hand.

I can see your point about an expose like feature. Although to me being able to search open tabs seems like a more efficient way of finding a specific page. Page thumbnails often look alike when they're primarily text, or are multiple similar pages from one site. Hard to see how any graphical representation like Expose would work too well when dealing with a large number of tabs.

As for a virtual desktop like way of arranging windows, isn't that what MDI offers to a certain extent?

You have multiple individual web page windows contained within separate browser windows. Is that so different from having individual SDI application windows within separate virtual desktops?

Not being able to roll up windows, drag and resize them from anywhere besides the title bar (thus not allowing to remove the window decoration and get some extra space), work with an active window without automatically getting it raised it to the top... basically everything that makes the Windows UI utterly clunky and awkward (IMO).

Windows window management does suck pretty badly, and it's a shame that Opera's lumbered with its limitations, but it's still far better than not having MDI versatility at all. To me conventional tabbed browsers are crippled in comparison.